Former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum, who was smiling and appeared buoyant after Thursday night’s debate, said he felt he did well, despite being ignored at times by the Fox News moderators.

“When I had the opportunity, I thought we did just fine,” Santorum told reporters after the debate. “We we are out here working hard. We are ‘The Little Engine that Could’ campaign. We are not getting a lot of play by the national media, and that was evident tonight. We were sort of ignored for about two-thirds of the debate. But the people of Iowa are going to make this decision, not Fox, not the mainstream media, not anybody else. So we are just going to keep working hard.”

Santorum was asked about a sharp exchange he had with U.S. Rep. Ron Paul on foreign policy. He said he enjoyed the opportunity to discuss his experience and leadership, and his support for the state of Israel.

“I think I presented a real contrast to the congressman, and I think a contrast to the rest of the field that doesn’t have any of that experience,” Santorum said.

Regarding Paul, Santorum added, “it just shocks me that we have a presidential candidate on our side of the aisle who would be arguing that America is the source of ill around the world.”

He said he would liked to have been more involved in the debate early on, when economic issues and other topics were being discussed. But he was not surprised when he was asked about moral and cultural issues because “that is sort of the pigeonhole the media has put me in, including Fox.”

But after conducting 110 town hall meetings throughout Iowa, Santorum said the people of Iowa know that he has a solid background on a broad range of issues and that he has a track record of defeating Democratic incumbents in elections. “No one else has done things like that,” he added.